U.S. Police React To How Scottish Police Deal With Criminals Without Shooti...

U.S. Police React To How Scottish Police Deal With Criminals Without Shooting Them

American police visited Scotland to see how local officers dealt with violent suspects without killing them using firearms.

In 2015 alone, police in the U.S. shot and killed more than 1,000 civilians, with many of these being unarmed.

PA

With public outrage towards law enforcement rising, former hostage negotiator with the Boston police department, Chuck Wexler, brought the team across the Atlantic in an attempt to cut the use of fatal force.

The footage will be featured in a new hard-hitting documentary called Hard-Wire: Law of the Gun which will be broadcast on Sky Atlantic and Sky News.

Sky News

Describing how an American officer would react to a suspect holding a rock, Wexler said:

You’re going to kill someone for throwing a rock. That’s what you’re gonna do. How would society over here think about you shooting someone with a rock? They would not accept it.

Sky News

You’re damn right they wouldn’t and why should they. Senior officers from NYPD and LAPD were among those who watched several demonstrations at Police Scotland training centres.

The four-day visit showed how Scottish police step back from confrontation, using shields and vehicles for protection in Glasgow, as they dealt with a variety of potentially violent situations.

Sky News

They also saw examples of how in Scotland officers use language and negotiation in a different way to their American colleagues.

Speaking to Sky News, Sergeant Jim Young – who trains hundreds of Scottish police recruits each year – said that U.S. style policing was ‘very authoritative’.